Professors toss in two cents
■Opinionson the election
run the gamut, with many
people comingdown on each
side of issues
By Brooke Ross
Oregon Daily Emerald
As the country awaits the final
presidential election results, Uni
versity professors are already for
mulating their opinions about the
future of the Electoral College.
Julie Novkov, an assistant profes
sor in political science, is anticipat
ing the announcement of the next
president, but said she thinks the fi
nal outcome could have complica
tions because the race is so close.
Novkov said she heard that near
ly 2,500 Florida voters accidentally
cast their votes for Pat Buchanan
while meaning to vote for Vice
President Al Gore. The mistakes
apparently resulted from the un
clear layout of the Palm Beach
County ballots.
However, Novkov said she
thinks either candidate will face
questions once he becomes the
president-elect.
“We obviously have to wait and
see what the recount is, but [the
2,500 votes] could be the margin for
victory,” she said, adding that she
thinks this kind of mistake could
give Gore’s campaign grounds to
file a lawsuit.
If Bush wins, she said, many
could argue that the voting process
was unfair.
“I hope the winner emerges with
some kind of legitimacy, but I think
that’s unlikely at this point,” she
said.
Contrary to popular belief, can
didates don’t win the White House
just by winning the popular vote.
When voters cast their votes in the
presidential election every four
years, they are actually voting for
their candidates’ electors. The
number of electors in each state is
equal to the number of Congress
members it has—so Oregon, for ex
ample, has seven electors. To gain
the presidency, a candidate has to
win 270 electoral votes.
This year’s presidential race is
likely the closest ever, with the two
major-party candidates in a stale
mate until one of them wins Flori
da’s 25 electoral votes.
Though the uncertain results are
casting doubt on the process,
Novkov said she thinks the Elec
toral College is important because
Oregon would not have received as
much attention from the presiden
tial candidates otherwise.
Priscilla Southwell, a political sci
ence professor and head of the politi
cal science department, said she
thinks it is unfortunate that the presi
dential results are still not deter
mined and that the Electoral College
is not efficient for this particular race.
“Most other countries make the
popular vote a requirement to win
the majority, and I don’t know why
we don’t do the same,” she said.
The popular vote should deter
mine the outcome, Southwell said,
and if no one earns the popular
vote, the top two candidates should
have a run-off to determine the
winner. This kind of strategy could
prevent waiting for results because
the country would not be depend
ent on electoral votes, she said.
Southwell also said the televi
sion media could have been more
accurate in reporting the presiden
tial election results.
“Calling state results should be
held off as long as possible until
polls are closed on the West Coast,”
she said.
Novkov said she hopes that every
one is aware that several election re
sults cannot be written off at this
time because it is still too soon to tell
the outcomes of many of the races.
Alan Meyer, a professor of man
agement in the business school,
said he thinks the extreme close
ness of the presidential race shows
neither candidate had a vision for
the future because they could not
inspire the electors. Neither candi
date was able to capture the critical
mass because they both avoided
tough issues, he said.
Meyer, however, thinks this wait
ing period is exciting.
“This is an election to end specu
lation that your vote could never
count,” he said.
Election dumbfounds networks
By Frazier Moore
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Television net
works declared George W. Bush the
president-elect, then took it back
during a bizarre night of election
coverage that left everyone, includ
ing newscasters, flabbergasted.
Newspapers across the country
didn’t have it any easier. They
pushed back deadlines, slowed press
runs and planned extra editions. But
with the race coming down to the
wire and deadlines looming, many
papers went to bed — prematurely
declaring Bush the winner.
The premature headlines were
reminiscent of the Chicago Daily
Tribune’s infamous 1948 gaffe,
“Dewey Defeats Truman.”
At 9:55 p.m. EST, CNN had tak
en back its projection that Gore had
won the state. CBS quickly fol
lowed, then NBC.
With Florida still in doubt, the
next president remained undeter
mined as the sun rose Wednesday.
“If you’re disgusted with us,
frankly, I don’t blame you,” Rather
told viewers.
Fallout
continued from page 1A
the office, said a steady line of people
wound out the door and around the
block from mid-morning until 8 p.m.
Brunig added that the counting
process is moving slowly because
elections officials have to verily the
signature on each ballot before the
ballot is counted, which can be
time-consuming.
Although the final tally isn’t in,
Bush has held a narrow lead in Ore
gon since the polls closed Tuesday
night. This represents a major change
from the last three presidential races,
when Oregon voters chose Democrat
ic candidates for president.
Dan Estes, political director for the
Oregon Republican Party, said a lot of
factors have helped give Bush the
edge, including the mail-in ballot sys
tem and Ralph Nader’s candidacy.
“Nader played a big role,” Estes
said. “The Green Party really pro
vided an alternative.”
Estes worked on Oregon’s cam
paign to elect Bob Dole in 1996, be
fore the advent of mail-in voting, and
said he prefers the old-fashioned
polls to the new mailing system.
When people go to the polls, he
said, a candidate can build momen
tum and peak on Election Day. With
Oregon’s new system, Bush needed
to peak three weeks in advance and
hold that level until Tuesday, which
Estes said costs much more time
and money.
But Estes said Bush and his run
ning mate, Dick Cheney, were able
to keep Oregon voters interested,
and local volunteers successfully
got the candidate’s message to the
state’s voters, which is giving him
his current lead.
“I have never seen so many peo
pie get excited about licking
stamps,” he said.
But Oregon Democrats are warn
ing Oregonians not to completely
discount Gore.
“It could go in the Democrat col
umn,” said Kathy McShea, a press
aide for Forward Oregon, the state
Democratic Party. “Ballots are still
being counted. The situation is still
fluid.”
McShea said the mail-in election
caused local Democrats to change
their campaign game plans.
“Participation has been off the
charts,” she said. “We had a situa
tion where the party infrastructure
went through a renaissance. ”
But she still believes Oregon
could remain a Democratic strong
hold for another four years.
“It’s premature to come to a con
clusion. Only certain pockets have
reported,” she said.
Walker
continued from page 1A
more than 24 hours.
“ I don’t know if I’m going back to
regular life or if I’m going to a more
creative life,” he said.
Miller said he is not claiming vic
tory either, he is just waiting until
there is a definitive answer because
he has received conflicting election
results.
According to the Associated
Press, Walker garnered 12,596 votes
for 51 percent of the total ballots,
while Miller earned 11,964 votes, or
49 percent.
Though the race had been close,
Walker claimed victory this morn
ing after a majority of the precincts
had reported in.
“I’m feeling absolutely ecstatic,”
she said. “I went to bed last night
feeling I had lost this race, and woke
up finding I had won.”
Walker said she discovered the
election results almost by accident.
“I got up to do paperwork on the
Web and thought, ‘Oh well, I’ll check
out the elections page to see how
much I had lost by,”’ Walker said.
When she discovered she was ahead,
“I went screaming through the house.
When I saw the final unofficial re
suits, it was an incredible feeling.”
She had remained optimistic Tues
day evening as she watched the re
sults slowly unfold at the Lane Coun
ty Fairgrounds. She reassured her
supporters who came to the fair
grounds that she was expecting it to
be a close race, and it was: Miller held
the lead with more than 50 percent of
the vote for all of Tuesday night, into
early Wednesday morning.
“1 think the student votes had a
lot to do with [the results],” Walker
said. “We had a lot of students vot
ing at the last minute. ”
Like the presidential election,
every vote counts, Walker said. She
also thanked students for their sup
port in volunteering and voting for
her in the tough campaign against
Miller.
Brian Lamb, a co-worker of Jeff
Miller’s who helped work on his
campaign, said he knew the race
would be a tight one.
“We knew up to the last minute it
could go either way,” he said. “1
wasn’t totally surprised.”
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